When pride still matters

Chapter 599 The Meaning of Starlight

Christian Leitner quickly found a more meaningful schedule for Yu Fei.

However, this arrangement does not seem to be very helpful for the development of personal brand.

Every NBA player these days is eager to develop his or her own brand, especially in the age of social media, which makes it easier.

But Yu Fei was not interested in this.

Leitner's plan was to draw Yu Fei's attention to a recent shooting in New York, which is as common as car accidents in American society.

However, the protagonist of this shooting is a young woman named Josephine Garner. She is a fan of Yu Fei, but this is not the point. Garner was born in Palestine and immigrated to Louisiana at the age of 20. After Hurricane Katrina, her home was looted and forced to move. Her story is more like "American reality" than "American dream".

Not long ago, Josephine was attacked by a gunman while having a barbecue with friends outdoors and unfortunately died.

If Yu Fei is a successful case of the "American Dream", then Ghana is the opposite of the "American Dream".

Her experience reflects an unchangeable reality in American society: her death has little impact on society itself. If Yu Fei had not been tired of trading vacation time for a lot of business activities, her death would probably have gone unnoticed by anyone.

But this time, Yu Fei decided to do something meaningful.

The next day, he attended an event wearing shoes with the name "Ghana" printed on them and took the initiative to talk about the matter.

The media quickly followed up with the report, making Yu Fei's image during the All-Star Weekend completely different from others.

The New York Times wrote in an editorial: "What is the truth in this day and age? How can we be sure that everything we hear is true? This is a strange time. You see the president pushing impossible health care reforms and you see players without college degrees talking about the meaning of the world. But you can look at those who are actually making positive contributions to society. Just yesterday, Fry Yu prayed for an unknown person who was killed in a shooting. He could have vigorously developed his brand in New York like everyone else, but he chose to do something that was truly meaningful to society."

Ironically, Yu Fei, who originally wanted to avoid commercial activities, has gained more attention because of his eccentricity.

His sponsors also quickly adjusted their strategies.

Since GOAT doesn't like high-profile commercial activities and wants to do something more meaningful? Then follow his wishes.

The shooting of Josephine Garner received a lot of attention, and her family appeared on television shows and received support from the public.

But what about the other shooting victims?

Everything remains the same, nothing has changed.

Things soon deviated from Yu Fei's original intention. He found that no matter what he did, it would eventually be related to business.

On the last day of the All-Star Weekend, Yu Fei was finally able to return to the court and participate in the game.

But at this moment, he discovered that the classic Gatorade advertisement was playing on the spot, accompanied by the classic song "Like Mike".

The ad was first aired in 1991, shortly after the Bulls won the championship. It showed a 29-year-old Jordan playing basketball with his children, with Gatorade's original lyrics and lively melody playing in the background.

On the surface, this is just Gatorade's way of celebrating its 50th anniversary, but in fact, it is also a way for the brand to look back at its heyday, and that period happened to be Jordan's peak.

Who can say that this is not Jordan's fans "summoning" the previous GOAT?
Yu Fei himself doesn't particularly care about the GOAT title, but Jordan's presence always makes him a little unhappy.

Fortunately, Jordan himself rarely appears at the All-Star Weekend.

At this time, Doug Rivers was organizing the training of the Western Conference All-Stars with ease. As the head coach, he had little pressure because all four players on the team were from his team.

This made him feel more supported than ever before.

The Western All-Stars still have two veterans, one is Kobe and the other is Nowitzki. Apart from Yu Fei and Yao Ming, the Western All-Stars have been completely taken over by young people.

As for the Spurs, Duncan has missed the All-Star game for two consecutive years.

This year, Paul George was selected to the All-Star Game, and he was the only Spurs player to be selected to the All-Star Game.

Just from the distribution of All-Stars, we can clearly see the Clippers' advantage.

Four All-Stars, that's a terrifying advantage no matter how you look at it.

During the training, Yu Fei and Kobe caught up, and Kobe suddenly asked: "Do you know what happened to KD recently?"

"What's wrong with him?" Yu Fei didn't pay attention to Durant.

Kobe looks at Durant now, just like seeing himself after the Eagle County incident.

“He’s become unfriendly.”

In fact, ever since the trumpet incident that happened with the Supersonics, Nike's "boy next door" image project for Durant has completely collapsed.

Durant is no longer "America's Son."

Therefore, two years ago, Nike shot an advertisement tailored for Durant with the slogan: "KD is not friendly."

A powerful dunk by Durant?
“KD wasn’t nice.”

Durant hit a fatal three-pointer?
“KD wasn’t nice.”

Durant got a technical foul?
“KD wasn’t nice.”

If you search "KD isn't nice" on YouTube, you'll see clips of some of Durant's most aggressive games.

However, in most cases, "KD is unfriendly" is more like Nike shaping its character. They want the outside world to know that although Durant has some minor problems with his personal character, he is still a strong player on the court, and his unfriendliness is limited to the game.

Lately, however, Durant has shown a more edgy side.

During the All-Star weekend, Yu Fei mourned the victims of the shooting while other players were busy with commercial activities to make money.

So the media would ask if they would do something similar.

Players like James naturally have a set of words to deal with the media.

"I'm glad that Frye is finally facing up to his social responsibility, which is what I've been doing," James said.

This is indeed true. Since the failure of the two-strong rivalry in the early years, James's route has become very clear - he is not just an athlete.

However, this statement easily makes people think that he is hinting at Yu Fei's shortcomings in this regard.

What about Durant?

As the "boy next door" in his early years, Durant actually did more charity work than any other star, and he does not need to be accused of similar things.

However, he was unwilling to say to the media, "Look at what I did in the past." He simply responded to the media's questions coldly, "You know nothing!"

Therefore, some media people who are very familiar with Durant can't help but ask: What made KD become like this?
In fact, Durant revealed part of the answer when facing the New York media. One of the reasons is that he has recognized his own personality and voice after going through so much. He is now 26 years old and is already a seven-year NBA veteran. He has won four consecutive championships with Yu Fei, has been selected to the All-Star team six times, and is expected to win the MVP this year.

He has influence, he has a voice, and his voice carries weight. Durant has always been sincere, but he has not been one to spark conversation with words in the past.

The other reason is more complicated. Durant's friction with the media is not because his own performance is criticized; on the contrary, his performance is widely praised. The problem is whether the New York media's constant dissection of the Knicks - from his mercurial teammate DeAndre Jordan to Derek Fisher, who was still a player last season but became an NBA head coach through the Zen Master's nepotism, and whether the Zen Master himself, the most skilled old man in NBA history, has an additional influence on the team.

Durant was fed up with the questioning and doubting, and was fed up with the media's endless creation of public opinion.

So, on the eve of the All-Star Game, when the media once again asked him about his opinion of the Knicks' record and whether he thought they had found the right direction, he could have said a few official words in a nice tone, but he chose the most show-like answer:

"Nothing has changed," Durant said. "You think that because you're on the outside. We struggle sometimes when we're winning, and that's normal in this league. We don't let that get us down. People on the outside always think we're done and try to find our problems. But maybe a week later, everything's fine. That's the nature of our game -- 'What have you done for me lately.' People praise you and then they tear you down. So we don't care."

"We just focus on ourselves and take care of our own business. We know the team has its ups and downs, so we will stay awake and let you worry about it and don't lose sleep over us."

Durant really got unkind.

Moreover, this unfriendly trend seems to be gone forever. When Yu Fei heard Kobe talking about Durant, he had only one thought: it was a perfect match.

Probably because of him, Durant in 2015 has evolved to the state around 2018 in the main timeline.

Durant in that state was a guy who was willing to argue with fans online, publicly stated that no one wanted to wear Under Armour, got angry because Thompson took more shots than him, and was finally broken by Green's formula.

That night, before the All-Star Game, the stars were making final preparations.

The media took advantage of every opportunity to come over for quick interviews.

Someone asked Yu Fei: "What do you think of LeBron saying that you finally did the same thing as him?"

"What thing?" Yu Fei asked with a smile.

Reporter: "Regarding Josephine Garner..."

“Oh, is that it?” Yu Fei said, “When did speaking up for shooting victims become LeBron’s specialty? Has no one ever done this before him? I don’t think so, and I’m not going to respond to him. Why don’t you ask him when he wins eight championships like me?”

Then, another unwise reporter asked Durant, "What do you think of the Knicks' recent return to normalcy?"

"Back to normal? What do you mean?" Durant said impatiently. "Every team has struggles, ups and downs, that's the NBA season. We have been normal. The only question is whether we have found the right way to play. We have felt it recently, but you think it's because we are back to normal? Do you really understand basketball?"

Yu Fei smiled and said, “Be friendly, Kevin, this media friend may not have any bad intentions.”

"I've had enough of these idiots!" Durant said angrily.

As a player who relies on exposure to maintain his image, such remarks are indeed inappropriate.

Yu Fei could see that Durant really wanted everyone to see his true character, but this was a bit too much.

The humiliated media left in hatred, and the world gained a media person who enjoys vilifying Durant.

The subsequent All-Star Game was truly spectacular.

Veterans like Kobe and Nowitzki have become mascot-like figures.

Kobe still wants to score points, but Nowitzki has proved the importance of his existence.

Yu Fei, who has won numerous honors, has no intention of winning AMVP.

As for Yao Ming, the traditional center is not very active in the All-Star Game.

In the early years, Yao Ming's signature performance in the All-Star Game was shooting three-pointers, but in today's era where centers must shoot three-pointers, performing this in the All-Star Game is indeed not as good as biting a lighter.

Moreover, because Yao Ming's transformation was too successful, mainstream public opinion has begun to publicly express its tiredness of his three-point shooting.

This seems to be what happens in every era.

People have a nostalgic mentality, and the core idea is that things in the past were better.

Old fans don't like the current game. They think modern basketball is too soft, with too many three-pointers, too many free throws, and too many restrictions. The iron-blooded and muscular confrontations of the past are the games that real men should watch.

As a result, Yao Ming, a classic example of successfully transcending the times, became the target of public attack.

Yao Ming was also helpless. If he had a choice, who would be willing to shoot a three-pointer?

Therefore, Yao Ming, who couldn't shoot three-pointers in the All-Star Game, relied heavily on guards to pass the ball to him.

But today, Yao was obviously lifeless. He just came to go through the motions and couldn't wait for the game to end.

Rivers also has his own selfish motives. Since Yu Fei and Yao Ming have no idea about the AMVP, he won't let them play more.

Instead, those energetic young people have been given plenty of opportunities.

Westbrook, Antetokounmpo, George, Harden...the new generation who are destined to become the protagonists of the 2010s have taken the stage to perform.

Among them, Westbrook performed the best.

He was at his best tonight. At his best, Westbrook is a surreal combination of a self-aware power gem, rim-killing athleticism and a reckless attitude that defies convention and the "wrong way" of playing. It's a poetic expression of aggression that no one can resist.

And that’s basically how he feels in Minnesota.

In the past two years, McGrady has been injured constantly, and Westbrook has basically carried the Timberwolves by himself. Some people say that he scores less, so he scored 30 points in a row; some people say that he plays alone, so he starts the "attack with double assists" mode; some people say that he can't lead the team to win the championship, and he is furious because this is exactly the truth.

Westbrook had too many concerns with the Timberwolves, but in the All-Star Game, he completely let go of himself - freed from the laws of gravity, team responsibility and the concept of shot selection - this is the Westbrook fans saw tonight: free to shoot 27-foot three-pointers in a row, and jump from the sky to complete the atomic bomb dunk. Because this is the All-Star Game, who can tell him not to do this, or stop him?
Watching the young people's flamboyant performance, Yu Fei felt a few years younger, so he also tried a few dunks.

But by that time, it was too late to show off.

The young stars showed their prowess on the field and became the protagonists.

In the end, Westbrook played brilliantly and led the Western Conference All-Stars to victory, winning the AMVP trophy as he wished.

As expected, New York fans, the low-quality field gods of professional basketball, booed during the award ceremony.

Because Westbrook stole the limelight from Durant, tonight should have been Durant's chance to show his prowess and continue the Knicks' strong season, but he was defeated by the Western Conference All-Stars.

And, it’s still a win for Reebok.

Just look at the rosters of the Eastern and Western All-Star teams to see how big an advantage Reebok has right now.

Nike's All-Star players are only Durant, James, Kobe and Griffin, and the vast majority of the remaining young star players with high commercial value are from Reebok.

Westbrook became the star among stars tonight. For Reebok, this was another victory. What they want to see most is young stars emerging one after another.

Because great stars always grow old, and the throne needs to be succeeded.

Judging from the numbers and future development prospects, Nike is already in danger.

Kobe won't be able to play for a few more years, James has yet to succeed, and Durant is their last hope.

However, Nike executives were deeply uneasy.

Although the Knicks have risen, they still have a strong rival in the East, the Heat.

Even though they have surpassed the Heat, Yu Fei's Clippers have also risen in the Western Conference.

This is their biggest fear, the big devil who has been dormant for two years is back.

Even the most optimistic Nike executives could not imagine how high Yu Fei's personal reputation would rise after he led the Clippers, a team known as basketball hell, to win the championship.

Although this is already an immeasurable reputation that is unmatched in the sports world, when a living legend continues to create mythical records, he will gain sacredness in a secular sense.

This momentum seemed unstoppable. Nike had tried everything it could, and ultimately could only trace back to the past and find the decision maker who was hesitant about signing Yu Fei.

But even if we do this, what will change?

Reebok has surpassed Nike to become the number one sports brand in the sports world.

This is the reality in 2015.

PS: I will take a day off tomorrow to take care of my waist.

(End of this chapter)